The weather has been pretty, but not good flyer distribution weather. I tried to get out again this morning and only lasted a short while. I don't mind being cold, it's the numb fingers which have to open the mail slots. :) Please pray for God's blessing despite my feeble attempts.

We are enjoying seeing more snowfall this year than normal. It's not been large amounts, but it has been beautiful. God's creation is glorious!

Scotland and the UK are back in a lockdown. I think I'm right in saying that it is a bit like going through culture shock. I'd summarize it with - "Life as you knew it is changed and there is a sense of apprehension about doing something wrong." Non essential shops are closed and there are stay at home orders. Please pray for grace for our church family to adapt with God's super abundant grace.

One other thing regarding how this is affecting our country, it is normal to struggle with depression during the heart of the winter in Scotland. At the shortest point our day light hours are 7 hours. For my amusement, I looked up where my parents are in Des Moines and it was 9 hours on the same day. My sister in North Carolina had 10 hours of day light. Obviously lockdown on top of dark winter has definitely affected people. Please pray for people to seek God during these difficult times.

God gave us a good day. We had really good attendance in all of our services and there is a great spirit among our church family. This evening I enjoyed preaching on Psalm 23, My Shepherd. Thank you for praying for our ministry.

The cold here in Scotland is like the Southern USA. It is packaged with very high humidity. I grew up in Wisconsin and am used to very dry cold temperatures. However, this wet cold (95 percent humidity just now) is painful. I was out for less than an hour and couldn't feel some of my fingers when I stopped. No sympathy needed.... it just limited my outreach a wee bit today. I'm probably getting soft in my old age.... :)

Please pray for God to bless and use the Gospel flyers. I was glad to get out with the GOOD NEWS!

I enjoyed getting out this morning with Gospel flyers in a village next door to Loanhead. It attaches to Loanhead on one side as our area is really growing.

God gave me two divine appointments. I've prayed recently that God would give us a builder in our church. Lord willing in the future, we will be able to get a building and need wisdom how make it everything that God would have it be. A builder would be a great assett. I witnessed to two men this morning and both are builders. :) I'd obviously loved to see them saved for other reasons. But, I'd also like to see God answer my prayer and give us a builder in our church family.

You may have seen in the news that England and Scotland have gone into a full lockdown. Our schools will not open until at least February. Churches are forbidden to meet together. People are told that they are to stay at home accept for work, essential shopping, health needs, etc. Please pray for grace for our church family as we seek God's leading through this. We're already only online as our centre closed before New Years. Thank you for praying with us.

God gave us us some fun ministry this past Thursday night and yesterday. We could not show our film on New Year's Eve (Thursday night) and so instead we had a Zoom praise service. It was a blessing to have everyone join together to speak about what God has done in our lives this past year. 

On Friday (1 January) our church began a 1 year Bible reading program. Again it was fun to share what God revealed to us in our devotions. I'm looking forward to seeing how God uses this in our church. It's already a blessing.

I hesitate to speak about Covid as we are all worn out with the topic. However, in case you are wondering how it is currently affecting our area. All of Scotland is in the highest Tier and most restrictive. Non essential shops are all closed. Non essential travel is restricted. Schools are delayed in re-opening after the holiday. They are also talking about a new national lockdown. 

Katie's children's Sunday School by Zoom went well again yesterday. Please especially pray that we don't lose children because our church can't physically meet. Thank you for praying for our ministry.

Scotland has been put in lockdown again as the government has closed all non essential shops. They have a tier system with different requirements - tier 4 is the highest. All of mainland Scotland has been put in tier-4 because of the new strain of the virus. In tier 4 churches can still meet with a limitation of 20 people.

We were praying about what to do with that limitation when the center we rent notifiied us that they were canceling all rentals. They will open again after we are taken out of tier 4. They kindly allowed our Carol Sing Service to take place.

Thank you for praying for our Carol Sing. We had a great evening. Here is a link if you'd like to see for yourself. Kay Lee played a violin solo and Benson sang a solo. We praise the Lord for our children and their participation in our ministry.

Our services for the next few weeks will be on zoom. We have had several children attending and want to keep them engaged. To that end, Katie is going to do a Zoom Sunday School class during our 5:00 PM Sunday School time. 

God's good and we trust that the impact on the church during these covid "limitations" will be good. Thank you for praying.

Our church webpage got a refresh today. If you want to see our new look - here is the link.

It happens occasionally that a minister faces illness on Saturday night and that was the case this week. I think I ate something that didn't agree with me. *I am back to normal today, praise the Lord! However, it was best that I not attend church yesterday. So, the kids did their program last night and Katie taught the kids her Christmas lesson. The adults set up our church Christmas tree; ten feet tall with 600 lights and 200 baubles. 

Thank you for praying for the Christmas program. It went very well.

You may have seen on the news that the UK has a new strain of coronavirus going around and it is more contagious. Our church will be limited to 20 people starting next Sunday. Please pray for wisdom for us as we consider the best way to deal with that restriction.

We appreciate your prayers. May God bless you with a great week and a very Merry Christmas.

Yesterday, Tommy and I tried to finish up the last remaining section of Loanhead. Unfortunatey Tommy's blood sugar went goofy and we had to get that sorted. He was fine after we got him something to eat. This morning I was back out doing flyers and able to get "the journey" flyer through every home in Loanhead. I think it probably just over 3,000 mail slots. Please pray for people who will respond and seek after the Lord. "If ye seek me, ye shall find me, if ye search with all your heart." 

I'll probably take about a two week break from putting out flyers now. I'll be focusing on our holiday ministries and also taking some down time with my family. Thank you for your prayers for the effectiveness of our evangelism.

Thank you for praying for Terri Gleason. The surgery was successful and they removed 90 percent of the tumour. Terri is recovering well and may be allowed home today. This will be her first time home since being taken into Accident and Emergency before Thanksgiving. The children are either back in Scotland already or returning soon. 

Pastor and Mrs. Dillman have also returned to Scotland following his father's funeral. Don said that it went well and that God helped him to give the eulogy. They are currently enduring their travel quarantine.

The Lord gave us a good midweek service. We're studying the book of Hebrews. We finished chapter 6 as we looked at Securities of our Salvation.

It's amazing that Christmas is just around the corner. Next Sunday evening our church kids are going to do a small presentation. Christmas Eve we have a Carol Sing. We appreciate your prayers as we get ready for these special events.